Rich Cutler Retires from Drew Estate

Effective Thursday, Rich Cutler, the svp of sales at Drew Estate, will retire after more than four decades in the tobacco business.

“I’ve been in the industry for 40 plus years,” said Cutler in a phone call with halfwheel. “It’s time that I enjoy time with my grandkids and take care a lot of personal interests… Swisher and Drew Estate treated me wonderfully. I’ve worked with a tremendous group of folks.”

Cutler joined Drew Estate in 2011 as a consultant and was hired on a short time later to help run the company’s efforts to introduce ACID G-Fresh, pre-packaged ACID SKUs designed for convenience stores and other non-traditional cigar retailers. He was a partner in the company prior to Drew Estate’s acquisition by Swisher International in late 2014. Cutler spent the majority of his career at U.S. Tobacco Co., now known as U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.

Michael Cellucci, president of Drew Estate, told halfwheel the company is looking for a replacement for Cutler. In the mean time Zev Kaminetsky, national field sales director, and Dave Lafferty, director of national accounts, will assist Cellucci in managing Cutler’s responsibilities.

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.